Another Place and Time
by vivaforever597
Summary: Asami and Bolin prepare for a life-changing event. Eighty years later, Carmen makes a discovery about her ancestry and adoption. Bosami.
1. Chapter 1

_This idea occurred to me a couple months ago as I was thinking about how similar Carmen and Asami look. For the purposes of this fic, I'm ignoring Malcolm Avalon's amnesia at the end of "Can You Ever Go Home Again?" because, let's face it, that was stupid and a cop-out._

_Chapters will alternate between Asami's time and Carmen's, with this chapter, obviously, placed in Asami's._

* * *

Asami entered the house with a sigh. Another long day overseeing the company, still facing the disgrace her father had brought upon it.

"Hi!" Bolin greeted her happily.

"Hey, Bolin," she replied, giving him a quick but tight hug.

Bolin frowned as he noticed her expression, even less at peace than usual. "You okay?" he asked. "Is anyone giving you a hard time? 'Cause I could knock some sense into them..." He trailed off as he subconsciously formed fists of both hands.

She laughed. "No, sweetie. No one's causing me trouble."

"Oh, that's good," Bolin replied. "Just a long day?" he added.

"Yeah," Asami sighed. "Just another very long day." She paused, considering whether or not it was a good time to deliver the one piece of news that had changed her day.

She knew that once the words had left her mouth, his life and hers would be definitively changed. But she realized that there would never be a better time...

"Hey, Bo? I have something to tell you," she said, sitting in the nearest chair. "I went to a healer today to talk about my stomach problems."

"Oh, did she help?" Bolin asked, relieved that this "something" didn't seem to be anything bad.

"Well, she tried," Asami murmured. "But she found what's going on."

"What's that?"

Asami paused, wondering how Bolin would take what she was about to say. "I ... I'm going to have a child, Bo," she explained.

Bolin looked at her blankly for an instant, then brightened as her words sank in. "You mean we're going to be parents?" he said, his voice rising slightly in pitch and excitement.

Asami chuckled. "Yes, sweetheart. That's exactly what I mean." She paused, searching his expression to confirm that he was as happy as he sounded. "Are you okay with that?" she asked.

Bolin grinned, practically clapping his hands. "I'm thrilled!"

"It's not going to be easy, Bo," Asami said, a bit chidingly, even as she smiled at her husband's obvious delight. "Look at my father, or Tenzin and Pema: parenting is really difficult."

"But I'll get to do it with you!" he cried, wrapping her in a hug even stronger than the last. "I'm sure it will be worth it."

Asami fiddled with her jacket absentmindedly. "Well, I hope so," she murmured.

"Of course it will!" Bolin insisted. "You'll be a great mother, you know," he added quietly.

Asami blushed. "Thanks, Bo. You'll be a great father, too."

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "I guess you have more confidence in me than I do."

Asami smiled and reached over to touch his cheek. "I guess so," she said.

"Our lives will never be quite the same, will they?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "But they'll still be wonderful."


	2. Chapter 2

Malcolm Avalon sat in his study, an old, dusty box in front of him. He sighed: why was he so concerned, all of a sudden, with his own ancestry? After all, his own parentage was not in question, only that of the woman who thought herself his daughter...

He stopped mid-thought, surprised by a photograph he'd taken out of the box.

It was a photograph of none other than the woman in question. The infamous Carmen Sandiego.

He shook his head as if to clear it as he turned the photograph over and saw the caption written on its back: _Asami - 1925_.

Marguerite's grandmother, he realized. Asami Sato, he recalled. Her maiden name, which she had kept all her life: a progressive action for her time. And her husband, Bolin's, surname... Avalon wasn't sure he had ever known it. _Marguerite would know_, he thought.

But as he flipped the photo back over, he understood the reason for his error. Asami's resemblance to Carmen was certainly striking.

He sat back and sighed. The more he learned, and the more he thought, the more it seemed possible that Carmen Sandiego truly was his daughter. He walked to the phone and dialed a number he had memorized after reading it so many times from the business card she had enclosed in her letter to him.

"Hello?" the receptionist on the other end answered.

"Hello," he began. "This is Malcolm Avalon. I believe a woman named Diane Gos has spoken with your company regarding my taking a DNA test?"

"Oh! Of course, Mr. Avalon."

"I'd like to schedule that test now, please."

"When would you like to come in, Mr. Avalon?"

He considered it for only an instant. "As soon as possible."

_I need to know_, he thought. _The sooner, the better_.


	3. Chapter 3

Katara smiled at the infant in her arms. "She's beautiful," she murmured.

Bolin beamed at the old woman. "We think so! Don't we, Asami? She's the best thing to ever happen to us," he gushed.

Asami smirked humorously. "I thought _I_ was the best thing to ever happen to you," she teased.

Katara watched the couple laugh together and began to chuckle herself. "I'm proud of you two, you know," she murmured. "The first time I met you, when you came with Korra... I knew you were both special. Seeing you make each other so happy is fulfilling for this old lady."

"You're not old!" Bolin exclaimed. "I mean... you're older than most people, but..." he trailed off as he realized he didn't know where he was taking his argument.

Katara shook her head. "It's all right, Bolin. I've had quite a long life. I'm much closer now to its end than to its beginning."

Asami's eyes narrowed. Realizing that even Katara, a legendary figure and her friend, was mortal was frightening, now that she considered it.

"But when I see new lives like this," Katara continued as she grinned down at the child, who giggled in reply, "I remember the hope I felt when I saw a childbirth for the first time." She chuckled, mostly to herself. "Well, that child was named Hope. It was appropriate to the situation."

"I know that story!" Bolin exclaimed. "You and Avatar Aang and your friends were traveling toward the Serpent's Pass, and —"

"I don't think Katara needs to have her life story repeated to her," Asami told him gently.

He blushed. "Oh, probably not."

Katara shook her head and laughed. "It's comforting to know that our adventures are still remembered," she assured Bolin. She looked down at the baby again and handed her back to Asami. "She'll look just like you, I think. Dark-haired and beautiful."

Now it was Asami's turn to blush. "I'm not as beautiful as people think," she demurred.

"Of course you are!" Bolin insisted. "You're the loveliest person I know. I mean, I know I'm biased, but you really are!"

A smile spread across his wife's face. "Thanks, Bo."

Katara's heart lifted as she continued to watch the two flirt, as if they were newly dating rather than married for nigh on two years. They reminded her of Suki and Sokka, she realized. A couple who were not only in love but who genuinely admired one another for their accomplishments. Strong individually; even stronger together. Little Lin was lucky to have such parents, Katara thought. And perhaps, like her namesake, she could act as a link between generations, between old and new. Remembering the past, Katara realized, was as important now as it ever was.


	4. Chapter 4

Carmen shook her head and inhaled sharply. She unfolded the paper the genetics lab had mailed her.

A 98% match. She could be almost certain that Malcolm Avalon was, in fact, her father.

As she scanned the lab's notes, Carmen smiled softly. She had, of course, known it all along. But now she had independent confirmation.

A week later, she received a large envelope from Argentina. Recognizing Avalon's return address, she resisted the urge to tear it open, instead maintaining her trademark elegance as she carefully sliced the flap. She pulled out a sheaf of papers and quickly shuffled through it. It was a mix of photocopied photographs and ancestral records, with a handwritten letter on top.

Dear Carmen, I received a notice from the lab you directed me to, informing me that it is reasonably sure that you are my daughter. I have therefore enclosed copies of some photographs, and of the records I have of Marguerite's and my ancestors. I hope that you will find them of interest. I think you will be especially interested in the photo of Marguerite's grandmother, Asami, from 1925. It was that photograph that pushed me to contact the lab, for she looks so much like you I could hardly think you weren't related. As you know, I have my reservations regarding your behavior, but I regret my words against yoy. I am not proud of your thievery, but I take pride in your strength and intelligence. I am proud to call you my daughter. Yours sincerely,  
Malcolm Avalon

Carmen breathed softly. As she reread the letter, tears formed in her eyes. "Thank you, Father," she whispered to herself.

She shook her head. After all this time, she had a parent who accepted her, and even appreciated her. It was an awe-inspiring feeling.

The emotion overtook her, and as she began to cry in earnest, she collapsed into her favorite armchair. She needed to rest, she realized. She had prepared for this, but her father's acceptance affected her far more than she'd expected.

After she'd gotten out her tears of relief, or joy, or whatever it was she was feeling, Carmen decided to take her father's advice and inspect the photograph of Asami. She was stunned by their resemblance. "1925," she murmured aloud. She looked more closely at the building behind Asami, and in a flash recognized it as a monument she'd once tried to steal.

She knew the time. Now she knew the place. She only had to take a moment to consider it. She rose from her seat, already forming her travel plans.


	5. Chapter 5

Asami and Bolin walked through the park, Lin between them, holding each parent's hand. It was, Asami thought, almost a perfect spring day: temperate and with a pleasant breeze. She turned and smiled at her husband, then down at her daughter. She was lucky, she thought. For all her past heartache, she was as happy as she could imagine herself being.

Bolin interrupted her reverie with a happy cry as he abruptly dropped Lin's hand. "What are you doing?" Asami cried after him with a laugh. Bolin ran toward a flower vendor dressed all in red and yellow, who turned to him with a smile and, after they exchanged a few words, held a bouquet toward him. By the time Asami reached them, having lifted Lin from the ground and carried her so as to be quicker, Bolin had already purchased the bouquet. He held it out to her with a grin.

"I thought you'd like these!" he told her.

Asami chuckled as she set Lin back down to take the flowers. "Of course, sweetheart," she murmured, and she raised the flowers to her face to smell them. "Oh, they're lovely," she told the vendor with a smile.

"A lovely bouquet for a lovely family," the woman replied cheerfully.

"Oh, thanks!" Bolin exclaimed. "Yeah, we're a good group, aren't we?" he added proudly as he looked at his wife and daughter.

The vendor smiled politely and chuckled, then shifted her gaze to Lin. "Such a lovely little girl deserves a flower of her own on a nice day like this," she murmured, then looked to Asami and Bolin for confirmation. At Asami's smile, she knelt in front of Lin and handed her a single red rose, coaxing a proud smile from the girl.

"What do you say to the nice lady?" Bolin prompted.

"Thank you for the flower," Lin said shyly.

"You're very welcome," the vendor replied, patting her gently on the head.

As the family rose and walked away, she watched them go. Just before they passed out of sight, Lin turned around to give her a wave and toothy smile. She returned the gesture. Then she walked away herself, and as she donned her red hat, she smiled softly. How many people, after all, got to meet their great-grandparents as 20-somethings, or to give a toddler version of their grandmother a gift, however small? She was almost more pleased than ever to have her time machine. As she approached the machine, where she'd hidden it in a cluster of bushes, she wondered if and when she would use it again.


	6. Epilogue

Carmen sat in her study, enjoying the silence as she sipped her coffee. She flipped leisurely through the photos of her ancestors that she'd collected — from Avalon's personal archives, from various libraries and public archives, through less legitimate means...

As she studied a photograph of Asami, she frowned. Something about it seemed familiar. With a pang of dawning realization, she raised her eyes across the table to her favorite armchair, an antique dating roughly to the 1920s, then lowered them back to the photo.

It showed Asami, holding Lin and seated in just such a chair. Carmen studied the chair for a particular mark on the left arm. She found it.

It was the same one that she knew so well from her chair.

Strangely, Carmen's memory failed her when it came to the provenance of her chair. She hadn't stolen it, she knew. It wasn't of any particular historical or artistic significance. But had it come to her as one of her antique store purchases? Or had she bought it on a whim at a garage sale? She simply couldn't remember.

But somehow she had her great-grandmother's armchair. Perhaps it was coincidence. Perhaps it was fate. Carmen had learned over the past months that some questions couldn't be answered. But she realized that in this case, she didn't need the answer. If she found it someday, she would of course be interested in it. But for now, she could rest, knowing that after all these years, she had a material connection to her family after all.

She had a piece of her ancestral history. And more importantly, she was loved.

It was enough. It was what she'd always wanted.


End file.
